Genome: The Autobiography Of Species In 23 Chapters: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters

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The principles of what had seemed a highly esoteric field became much clearer and more straightforward. The hypocritical chapter on eugenics, which decries the practice despite being sandwiched between two chapters implicitly defending it, is likely to annoy even people who don't particularly care about gender issues, and any remaining patience I had for Ridley he lost when he quoted Gould on IQ. The feeling of stress can depend on our outlook, but the release of cortisol is an involuntary response by the body. The book is, in its way, a selective text on human genetics that by and large avoids sounding like a classroom lecture.

The book's author, Matt Ridley, is a British journalist and businessman, known for writing on science, the environment, and economics.Since one (unnumbered) chapter is required to discuss the sex chromosomes, the final chapter is number 22. Matt Ridley explores the genome in 23 chapters, each one motivated by a particular issue on the corresponding chromosome number. Ridley also emphasises that there is a lot we don't know, for example about the mysterious "prions" which had a role to play in mad cow disease. Suffice it to say that Ridley's talent for writing genetic science is not matched by his writing about current genomic science. He also puts a lot of the fears of genetic tinkering to rest by showing just how the data is being used.

A couple of years later I discovered the National Genographic Project, jointly established by IBM and National Geographic, both of which seemed to be the most creditable organizations to have undertaken such a project for the general public. He has written several science books including the The Red Queen (1994), Genome (1999) and The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (2010).The final chapters that discuss genetic determinism, eugenics, and nature vs nurture are treated with upmost care, empathy, and altogether brilliant writing.